We will be receiving the Rainbow Trout Eyed Eggs for Trout in the Classroom next week (Jan 25).
We usually have more eggs than Ron can use for the students classes. GRTU has been using these access eggs and plant them in the river using Whitlock/Vibert boxes to help increase their chances of survival. I have been in charge of this part of the program for many years. This year because of health issues I will not be able to participate. I have initiated the permitting process with TPWD to allow for this planting.

What I need is some of the members who have previously helped with these planting to pick up the ball and run with it.
If you would like make this happen, volunteer here and I will hand off everything necessary to accomplish this planting.
Really this is more of a education opportunity than a real necessity for the long term health of the fishery.
We will need about 4 volunteers to make this an easier process.
Thank you for your consideration.

Jimbo - It’s been six years since I schleped gravel down to the river at Kranz in support of this program. Still, after checking out Whitlock/Vibert videos on YouTube, and with your guidance, I’m good to go. Let me know if I can help........Thanks.......Lloyd Vaughan

Just learned from our New Braunfels TIC teacher, her father, Hylmar Karbach passed last evening.
Kate went to the trouble this morning to route me to her team teacher.
Hylmar was a force in early GRTU.
Fond memories.
And Hylmar is certainly vested in the future.

ps - just accepted the Fed-Ex delivery of 4000 live trout eggs. We're on schedule.

Well today was the day to get these excess Rainbow Trout eggs into their new home on the Guadalupe.
Ron McAlpin, who heads up "Trout in the Classroom" was at the Lowe's Store in Sattler to divy up those eggs.
We were talking about this and how many years we've been doing this. Well it's too long to accurately remember, but well into double digits.
Me, and my volunteers, job is to make the best use of those extra eggs and turn them into catchable sized Trout in the Guadalupe.

Today I had 5 members volunteer: Steve Baker, Jerry Horton, Lloyd Vaughan, Paul Gathauy, and Jud Prince.
Next stop was Ingram's Ranch where we were given permission and access to harvest some clean gravel.
Here you can see our volunteers, shoveling gravel onto a classifer to come up with a desirable sized gravel for our needs.
It's hard work, but this crew went about their work with enthusiasm.

Next stop was to take the several hundreds of pounds of gravel and other equipment up to Maricopa and haul everything down to the river.
Here we have put the excess eggs into this water filled tray to transfer them into the upper chambers of the Whitlock/Vibert Boxes.
Then we place some plastic crates into position with the lower third filled with our clean gravel. Then we place two of the full Whitlock/Vibert boxes in each crate. The next step is to cover them completely with the remaining gravel. Then lastly add our signs identifying why these crates are there and what's their purpose.....
Happiness is another job well done!
I would ask everyone fishing this area to let these special crates be and do not disturb them.
In about 8 weeks we will have about 1000 Rainbow Trout fry swim out of these boxes and into the Guadalupe.
Good Luck little guys!

Jimbo, made me go back and do the math - turns out my guess yesterday was right.
I remember helping Karen set up her first tank at Hoffman Lane Elementary school. As she expanded the program to other schools, Round Rock, Roosevelt HS, Larry Hill was one of her full-time helpers. What I remember for sure, is she ran the program for 8 years before volunteering me to take the reigns.

I took the program over in 2010, and up front will acknowledge Matt Blyth for his great efforts in Katy and Houston, along with Doug Kierklewski and most recently Bill Marshall for the effort they contribute to the program.
currently, our 20 schools include classrooms in Canyon, New Braunfels, Boerne, San Antonio, Austin, Round Rock, Katy and Houston.

So the first time you dug a hole in the river to plant a Vibert box was probably either 2003 or 2004. It was your idea as a better solution to excess eggs than simply pouring them into the river. We've each done our part long enough that we have systems that are working. We also turned those busy half-days at the river into some really good fishing on the other half.

We've outlasted hatchery staff and policy changes - and especially their egg counting mercy. Last year we barely received enough eggs for the schools, so this year, I doubled the order, and results look like it was just right.

It's always fun to deliver the eggs to classrooms. Where we go to HS aquatic science departments, the kids are too cool, and the teachers are excited. At the elementary schools, the kids are usually wound up over the visit. At Mountain Valley ES in the Horseshoe Bend, they have the tank placed wonderfully - it's in a no-walls part-time teaching space at the top of the stairs, where every kid in the school can promenade past it every day to inspect the hatching eggs and fry.

Yesterday at New Braunfels CA, I was grilled with 20 questions and 20 fish stories (the beauty of catch and release, they keep growing after you let them go - there was a kid who remembers catching a 4' Guadalupe rainbow - way cool), but I hope I got all the important answers back to the kids. The next great adventure will be in May, when the kids and teachers return their fingerlings to the river.

And to everyone who contributed to each leg of this enterprise - Great Job Guys !!!
4000 live rainbow trout eggs are settled into their new domiciles

I honestly haven't been fishing for praise, but have been receiving it here and e-mails for the past few days - it is appreciated.

The fun thing about this post (Education Chair), is it overlaps so many functions within GRTU - Fisheries, Education, Conservation - and Perfectly fits our defined purpose.

As far as getting people involved, I always like to use this example of our favorite speakers, fly fishing heroes, etc. (Whitlock, Borger, Kreh) - and Jimbo.
The best times I've ever had fishing was fishing on TV, filming TU on the Rise with Jimbo and Frank Smethurst, and KT Diaries with Kevin Townsend (while Jimbo was with us documenting the documentary).
It was because of the company - these guys are Just Like Me.
You put a fly rod in our hands, and we turn into kids - and that makes us infectious.

It's also why it wasn't easy for Jimbo and me to remember how long we've been doing this - we've been having too much fun for it to seem like work.